Outtake 3

"Ang!" Ben yelled from inside their walk in closet. Waiting a moment, he sighed and yelled, "Angela!"

"I'm right here," she said, laughing as she appeared in the doorway of said closet, wearing only his white button shirt from the day before, with her hands wrapped around two porcelain coffee cups. "Let me guess: you're looking for your blue tie."

"I am," he admitted, sheepishly as he accepted one of the cup and took a sip of the coffee. "Damn, babe, this is good."

"Thank you," she laughed and shook her head. "Your tie is downstairs, by the way. Hanging off the banister, where you threw it last night as you tore your clothes off and threw me on the bed and took me with wild abandonment."

"Oh, yeah," he said, smirking. "Good times."

Angela scoffed as her cell phone rang. "Bet it's Dad."

"Not taking that bet." Ben followed her out of the closet, pausing as she picked up her phone, her eyes widening as she looked at him. "Who is it?"

"It's Bree Tanner from the Foster Care office," she murmured before she took a deep breath and pressed her finger across the green talk button and brought the phone up to her ear. "Hello . . . What? Are you serious? . . . Okay . . . okay," she whimpered, looking down at her watch. "We can be there fifteen minutes . . . Okay. Bree, is this for real?" Angela brought her hand up to her mouth. "Okay, we'll see you in a bit."

Angela ended the call and tossed her phone on the bed, wrapping her arms around her torso. He could see the tears in her eyes mixed with fear and hope.

"Babe, you're scaring me."

She laughed through her tears. "They just found a baby in a dumpster on Mercer Island. They're bringing her to the hospital and, well, they want us to take emergency custody of her."

"Her?" Ben asked, smiling. "It's a baby girl?"

Angela nodded, dislodging her tears. "Bree said she appears to be unharmed, just cold and dirty, but if we want her, she's ours. At least until they find her mother."

"Okay, okay, okay," Ben murmured, placing his hands on his hips. "I'm going to call and have then reschedule my meetings for today, for the next couple days. You call your dad and get the car seat, I guess. We're bringing home a baby."

—SfH—

Seventeen minutes later, not that he was counting, Ben and Angela hurried into University of Washington Medical Center and into the emergency room. There were dozens of people moving quickly, completely oblivious of the two of them. Ben was overwhelmed and stressed and he could tell by the way Angela fidgeted with her wedding rings that she, too, felt as anxious as he did about becoming foster parents. Especially since they had longed for a child of their own for far too long. Were they setting themselves up for a world of hurt and pain? Probably, but his gut told him this was the moment their world changed for the better.

"Can I help you?" a young, male doctor with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was around the same age as them, though he looked tired and worn out. "Are you looking for a patient? Do you need medical attention?"

"We, um, we were called about an abandoned baby being brought in," Ben said, sliding his arm around Angela's waist.

"Oh, um," he said before his attention was being pulled to a gurney being dragged into the room with a man screaming for bees to stop stinging him. "I think they took her to room eight."

The young doctor disappeared out of sight with his patient, so Ben and Angela hurried down the hallway, finding the door to room eight open with two police officers standing outside. When they stopped and looked inside, Ben tightened his arm around Angela. Bree was standing just inside the room with the smallest baby he had ever seen in her arms. She was talking to the doctor, but when he gestured toward them, she turned and smiled.

"Come on in," she said, and Ben and Angela shared a look before they stepped into the room. "Ben, Angela, breathe for me."

They laughed as they took a deep, shaky breath.

"Is . . . is that her?" Angela whimpered.

"It is. This is Dr. Gerandy," Bree said, gesturing toward the man standing on the opposite side of the examination table. "He just gave our girl here a thorough examination. She's perfectly healthy."

"I'd like to keep her overnight, just as a precaution of course, but she seems healthy," Dr. Gerandy said, smiling.

"How old is she?" Angela asked.

"Days, but we don't know for sure. She hadn't been bathed after she was delivered," he replied.

"Whoever put her inside that dumpster placed her in a duffle bag and wrapped her in a blanket. They also left her with this bear." Bree picked up a dirty, ratty teddy bear with a blue nose. "The police have already processed it, so the bear goes with the baby."

"Can I hold her?" Angela asked, stretching her arms out to Bree. "Please."

"Of course." Bree gently placed the tiny baby in Angela's arms.

She was beautiful, Ben thought. Fragile and delicate. She had more hair than most babies, black hair as soft as features and her skin was perfectly sun kissed. She yawned, her mouth opening in a perfect O before her eyes opened, and though Ben knew baby that little couldn't focus enough to actually see clearly, he could have sworn she looked directly at him. He knew in that moment this sweet, delicate baby girl was meant to be theirs.

"Oh, wow, she's beautiful," he whimpered, his eyes filling with tears. "You don't know where her mother is?"

"No, we're canvasing the area, but it's mostly abandoned warehouses and old factories." Bree reached over and placed her hand under the baby. "If you don't think you're ready to take in a foster baby, say the word. I know you just got approved and this is sudden, but she needs people who are going to keep her safe, love her. She's had a rough start to life."

"No, we're ready," Angela said, smiling. "We're definitely ready."

"Well, she needs a name," Bree said. "We can't keep calling her baby doe."

Ben and Angela smiled as they looked at each other. "Her name is Vanessa. Vanessa Hope."

Ben leaned over and pressed his lips against the side of Angela's head, knowing how special the name Vanessa was to her. A tribute to her mother. Vanessa Hope would change their lives. With her, they'd become a family, a perfect family and Ben wouldn't let anyone hurt his girls.

Ever.

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! We have four more outtakes to go!